Moses
Moses was a according to the teachings of the . Scholarly consensus sees Moses as a ary figure and not a historical person, while retaining the possibility that a Moses-like figure existed. According to the , he was adopted by , and later in life became the leader of the Israelites and , to whom the of the , or acquisition of the Torah from Heaven, is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbenu in Hebrew ( , "Moses our Teacher"), he is the most important prophet in . He is also an important prophet in , , the , and a number of . According to the , Moses was born in a time when his people, the , an enslaved minority, were increasing in numbers and the was worried that they might ally themselves with Egypt's enemies. Moses' mother, , secretly hid him when the Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed in order to reduce the population of the Israelites. Through the Pharaoh's daughter (identified as Queen in the ), the child was adopted as a from the and grew up with the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slavemaster (because the slavemaster was smiting a Hebrew), Moses fled across the to , where he encountered The Angel of the Lord, speaking to him from within a on (which he regarded as the Mountain of God). God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak eloquently, so God allowed , his brother, to become his spokesperson. After the , Moses led the out of Egypt and , after which they based themselves at , where Moses received the . After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died within sight of the on . gives 1592 BCE, and 1571 BCE as Moses' birth year. records the names of the kings when Moses was born in the : :* "When Saphrus reigned as the fourteenth king of , and Orthopolis as the twelfth of , and as the fifth of , Moses was born in Eygpt, ..." Orthopolis reigned as the 12th King of Sicyon for 63 years, from 1596–1533; and Criasus reigned as the 5th King of Argos for 54 years, from 1637–1583.|group="Note"}} In the , Moses was called "the ". Name , painting by , 1904}} Several etymologies have been proposed. An root msy, "child of", has been considered as a possible etymology, arguably an abbreviation of a , as for example in Egyptian names like s ( ) and ( ), with the god's name omitted. , based on the spelling given in the , argues that it combines "water" or "seed" and "pond, expanse of water", thus yielding the sense of "child of the " (mw-še). The Biblical account of Moses' birth provides him with a to explain the ostensible meaning of his name. He is said to have received it from the Pharaoh's daughter: "he became her son. She named him Moses (Moshe), saying, 'I drew him out (meshitihu) of the water. This explanation links it to a verb mashah, meaning "to draw out", which makes the Pharaoh's daughter's declaration a play on words. The princess made a grammatical mistake which is prophetic of his future role in legend, as someone who will "draw the people of Israel out of Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea." The etymology in the Biblical story may reflect an attempt to cancel out traces of Moses' . The Egyptian character of his name was recognized as such by ancient Jewish writers like and . Philo linked Mōēsēs ( ) to the Egyptian ( ) word for water (mou/μῶυ), while Josephus, in his , claimed that the second element, ''-esês'', meant 'those who are saved'. The problem of how an Egyptian princess, known to Josephus as Thermutis (identified as Tharmuth) and in later Jewish tradition as , could have known Hebrew puzzled medieval Jewish commentators like and . Hezekiah suggested she either converted or took a tip from . Biblical narrative , a 6th-century miniature from the }} Prophet and deliverer of Israel The had settled in the in the time of and , but a new arose who oppressed the children of Israel. At this time Moses was born to his father , son of the , who entered Egypt with Jacob's household; his mother was (also Yocheved), who was kin to Kehath. Moses had one older (by seven years) sister, , and one older (by three years) brother, . the place of his birth was at the ancient city of .|group="Note"}} The Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born would be drowned in the river , but Moses' mother placed him in an ark and concealed the ark in the es by the riverbank, where and adopted by , and raised as an Egyptian. One day after Moses had reached adulthood he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. Moses, in order to escape the Pharaoh's , fled to (a desert country south of Judah), where he married . , assisted by and ; 19th-century painting by }} There, on , appeared to Moses as a , revealed to Moses his name (probably pronounced ) and commanded him to return to Egypt and bring his (Israel) out of bondage and into the ( ). During the journey, God tried to kill Moses, but . Moses returned to carry out God's command, but God caused the Pharaoh to refuse, and only after God had subjected Egypt to did the Pharaoh relent. Moses led the Israelites to the border of Egypt, but there God hardened the Pharaoh's heart once more, so that he could destroy the Pharaoh and his army at the as a sign of his power to Israel and the nations. After defeating the in , Moses to , where he was given the from God, written on . However, since Moses remained a long time on the mountain, some of the people feared that he might be dead, so they made a statue of a and , thus disobeying and angering God and Moses. Moses, out of anger, broke the tablets, and later ordered the elimination of those who had worshiped the golden statue, which was melted down and fed to the . He also wrote the ten commandments on a new set of tablets. Later at Mount Sinai, Moses and the elders entered into a covenant, by which Israel would become the people of YHWH, obeying his laws, and YHWH would be their god. Moses delivered the laws of God to Israel, instituted under the sons of Moses' brother , and destroyed those Israelites who fell away from his worship. In his final act at Sinai, God gave Moses instructions for the , the mobile shrine by which he would travel with Israel to the Promised Land. From Sinai, Moses led the Israelites to the on the border of Canaan. From there he sent into the land. The spies returned with samples of the land's fertility, but warned that its inhabitants were . The people were afraid and wanted to return to Egypt, and some rebelled against Moses and against God. Moses told the Israelites that they were not worthy to inherit the land, and would wander the wilderness for forty years until the generation who had refused to enter Canaan had died, so that it would be their children who would possess the land. When the forty years had passed, Moses led the Israelites east around the to the territories of and . There they escaped the temptation of idolatry, conquered the lands of and in , received God's blessing through the prophet, and massacred the ites, who by the end of the Exodus journey had become the enemies of the Israelites due to their notorious role in . Moses was twice given notice that he would die before entry to the Promised Land: in 27:13, once he had seen the Promised Land from a viewpoint on , and again in Numbers 31:1 once battle with the Midianites had been won. On the banks of the , in sight of the land, Moses assembled the . After recalling their wanderings he delivered God's laws by which they must live in the land, sang a of praise and pronounced a on the people, and passed his authority to , under whom they would possess the land. Moses then went up to the top of , looked over the promised land of Israel spread out before him, and died, at the age of one hundred and twenty. More humble than any other man (Num. 12:3), "there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom knew face to face" ( 34:10). The states that after Moses' death, and the disputed over his body ( 1:9). Lawgiver of Israel '' by }} Moses is honoured among today as the "lawgiver of Israel", and he delivers several sets of laws in the course of the four books. The first is the ( – ), the terms of the which God offers to the Israelites at biblical Mount Sinai. Embedded in the covenant are the (the , Exodus 20:1–17) and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22–23:19). The entire constitutes a second body of law, the begins with yet another set, and the another. Moses has traditionally been regarded as and the , which together comprise the , the first section of the . Historicity The modern scholarly consensus is that the figure of Moses is a mythical figure, and while, as writes, "a Moses-like figure may have existed somewhere in the southern in the mid-late 13th century B.C.", archaeology cannot confirm his existence. Certainly no Egyptian sources mention Moses or the events of Exodus–Deuteronomy, nor has any archaeological evidence been discovered in Egypt or the to support the story in which he is the central figure. The story of his discovery picks up a familiar motif in ern of the ruler who rises from humble origins: Thus 's account of his own origins runs: My mother, the high priestess, conceived; in secret she bore me She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid She cast me into the river which rose over me. Despite the imposing fame associated with Moses, no source mentions him until he emerges in texts associated with the . A theory developed by in 1872, which had proved influential, argued that Yahweh was a ite god, introduced to the Israelites by Moses, whose father-in-law was a Midianite priest. It was to such a Moses that Yahweh reveals his real name, hidden from the who knew him only as . Against this view is the modern consensus that most of the Israelites were native to . argued that the uses the figure of Moses, originally linked to legends of a Transjordan conquest, as a narrative bracket or late redactional device to weld together 4 of the 5, originally independent, themes of that work. and , the latter in a somewhat manner, have suggested that the Moses story is a distortion or transmogrification of the historical pharaoh (c. 1200 BCE), who was dismissed from office and whose name was later simplified to msy (Mose). regards this hypothesis as "intriguing, but beyond proof." The name of has been linked to that of Moses. Mesha also is associated with narratives of an exodus and a conquest, and several motifs in stories about him are shared with the Exodus tale and that regarding Israel's war with Moab ( 3). Moab rebels against oppression, like Moses, leads his people out of Israel, as Moses does from Egypt, and his first-born son is slaughtered at the wall of as the firstborn of Israel are condemned to slaughter in the Exodus story, "an infernal passover that delivers Mesha while wrath burns against his enemies". An Egyptian version of the tale that crosses over with the Moses story is found in who, according to the summary in , wrote that a certain , a priest, became overseer of a band of , when , following indications by , had all the lepers in Egypt quarantined in order to cleanse the land so that he might see the gods. The lepers are bundled into , the former capital of the , where Osarseph prescribes for them everything forbidden in Egypt, while proscribing everything permitted in Egypt. They invite the Hyksos to reinvade Egypt, rule with them for 13 years – Osarseph then assumes the name Moses – and are then driven out. Moses in Hellenistic literature , Jordan}} Non-biblical writings about Jews, with references to the role of Moses, first appear at the beginning of the , from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE. Shmuel notes that "a characteristic of this literature is the high honour in which it holds the peoples of the East in general and some specific groups among these peoples." In addition to the Judeo-Roman or Judeo-Hellenic historians , , , and , a few non-Jewish historians including (quoted by ), , , , , and also make reference to him. The extent to which any of these accounts rely on earlier sources is unknown. Moses also appears in other religious texts such as the (c. 200 CE), (200–1200 CE), and the (c. 610–653). The figure of in is a renegade Egyptian priest who leads an army of lepers against the pharaoh and is finally expelled from Egypt, changing his name to Moses. In Hecataeus The earliest existing reference to Moses in Greek literature occurs in the Egyptian history of (4th century BCE). All that remains of his description of Moses are two references made by , wherein, writes historian Arthur Droge, he "describes Moses as a wise and courageous leader who left Egypt and colonized ." Among the many accomplishments described by Hecataeus, Moses had founded cities, established a temple and religious cult, and issued laws: }} Droge also points out that this statement by Hecataeus was similar to statements made subsequently by . In Artapanus raising his arms during the battle against the Amalekites}} The Jewish historian (2nd century BCE), portrayed Moses as a cultural hero, alien to the Pharaonic court. According to theologian John Barclay, the Moses of Artapanus "clearly bears the destiny of the Jews, and in his personal, cultural and military splendor, brings credit to the whole Jewish people." , where he won great victories. After having built the city of , he taught the people the value of the as a protection against the serpents, making the bird the sacred guardian spirit of the city; then he introduced . After his return to , Moses taught the people the value of oxen for agriculture, and the consecration of the same by Moses gave rise to the cult of . Finally, after having escaped another plot by killing the assailant sent by the king, Moses fled to , where he married the daughter of Jethro, the ruler of the district.}} Artapanus goes on to relate how Moses returns to Egypt with Aaron, and is imprisoned, but miraculously escapes through the name of in order to lead the Exodus. This account further testifies that all Egyptian of thereafter contained a rod, in remembrance of that used for Moses' miracles. He describes Moses as 80 years old, "tall and ruddy, with long white hair, and dignified." Some historians, however, point out the " nature of much of Artapanus' work," with his addition of extra-biblical details, such as his references to Jethro: the non-Jewish Jethro expresses admiration for Moses' gallantry in helping his daughters, and chooses to adopt Moses as his son. In Strabo , a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher, in his (c. 24 CE), wrote in detail about Moses, whom he considered to be an Egyptian who deplored the situation in his homeland, and thereby attracted many followers who respected the deity. He writes, for example, that Moses opposed the picturing of the deity in the form of man or animal, and was convinced that the deity was an entity which encompassed everything – land and sea: , being dissatisfied with the established institutions there, left it and came to Judaea with a large body of people who worshipped the Divinity. He declared and taught that the Egyptians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments, in representing the Divinity under the likeness of wild beasts and cattle of the field; that the also were in error in making images of their gods after the human form. For God he may be this one thing which encompasses us all, land and sea, which we call heaven, or the universe, or the nature of things.... 36. By such doctrine Moses persuaded a large body of right-minded persons to accompany him to the place where now stands....}} In Strabo's writings of the history of as he understood it, he describes various stages in its development: from the first stage, including Moses and his direct heirs; to the final stage where "the continued to be surrounded by an aura of sanctity." Strabo's "positive and unequivocal appreciation of Moses' personality is among the most sympathetic in all ancient literature." His portrayal of Moses is said to be similar to the writing of who "described Moses as a man who excelled in wisdom and courage." Egyptologist concludes that Strabo was the historian "who came closest to a construction of Moses' religion as and as a pronounced counter-religion." It recognized "only one divine being whom no image can represent... and the only way to approach this god is to live in virtue and in justice." In Tacitus The Roman historian (c. 56–120 CE) refers to Moses by noting that the Jewish religion was monotheistic and without a clear image. His primary work, wherein he describes , is his (c. 100), where, according to Arthur Murphy, as a result of the Jewish worship of one God, " mythology fell into contempt." Tacitus states that, despite various opinions current in his day regarding the Jews' ethnicity, most of his sources are in agreement that there was an Exodus from Egypt. By his account, the Pharaoh , suffering from a , banished the Jews in response to an oracle of the god - . In this version, Moses and the Jews wander through the desert for only six days, capturing the on the seventh. In Longinus , curing the Israelites from poisonous snake bites in a painting by }} The , the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, influenced , who may have been the author of the great book of literary criticism, . The date of composition is unknown, but it is commonly assigned to the late 1st century C.E. The writer quotes in a "style which presents the nature of the deity in a manner suitable to his pure and great being," however he does not mention Moses by name, calling him 'no chance person' ( ) but "the Lawgiver" ( , ) of the Jews," a term that puts him on a par with and . Aside from a reference to , Moses is the only non-Greek writer quoted in the work, contextually he is put on a par with , and he is described "with far more admiration than even Greek writers who treated Moses with respect, such as and . In Josephus In ' (37 – c. 100 CE) , Moses is mentioned throughout. For example Book VIII Ch. IV, describes , also known as the First Temple, at the time the was first moved into the newly built temple: had finished these works, these large and beautiful buildings, and had laid up his donations in the temple, and all this in the interval of seven years, and had given a demonstration of his riches and alacrity therein; ...he also wrote to the rulers and elders of the Hebrews, and ordered all the people to gather themselves together to , both to see the temple which he had built, and to remove the ark of God into it; and when this invitation of the whole body of the people to come to Jerusalem was everywhere carried abroad, ...The happened to fall at the same time, which was kept by the Hebrews as a most holy and most eminent feast. So they carried the ark and the tabernacle which Moses had pitched, and all the vessels that were for ministration to the sacrifices of God, and removed them to the temple. ...Now the ark contained nothing else but those two tables of stone that preserved the , which God spake to Moses in , and which were engraved upon them...}} According to Feldman, Josephus also attaches particular significance to Moses' possession of the "cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice." He also includes piety as an added fifth virtue. In addition, he "stresses Moses' willingness to undergo toil and his careful avoidance of bribery. Like 's , Moses excels as an educator." In Numenius , a Greek philosopher who was a native of , in Syria, wrote during the latter half of the 2nd century CE. Historian Kennieth Guthrie writes that "Numenius is perhaps the only recognized Greek philosopher who explicitly studied Moses, the prophets, and the life of ..." He describes his background: , but talked familiarly of the myths of s and . It is however his knowledge and use of the Hebrew scriptures which distinguished him from other Greek philosophers. He refers to Moses simply as "the prophet", exactly as for him is the poet. is described as a Greek Moses. }} In Justin Martyr The Christian saint and religious philosopher (103–165 CE) drew the same conclusion as , according to other experts. Theologian Paul Blackham notes that Justin considered Moses to be "more trustworthy, profound and truthful because he is older than the ." He quotes him: }} Abrahamic religions Judaism Most of what is known about Moses from the Bible comes from the books of , , and . The majority of scholars consider the compilation of these books to go back to the , 538–332 BCE, but based on earlier written and oral traditions. There is a wealth of stories and additional information about Moses in the and in the genre of nical known as , as well as in the primary works of the Jewish , the and the . Moses is also given a number of bynames in Jewish tradition. The identifies Moses as one of seven biblical personalities who were called by various names. Moses' other names were: Jekuthiel (by his mother), Heber (by ), Jered (by ), Avi Zanoah (by Aaron), (by ), Avi Soco (by his wet-nurse), Shemaiah ben Nethanel (by people of Israel). Moses is also attributed the names Toviah (as a first name), and Levi (as a family name) (Vayikra Rabbah 1:3), Heman, Mechoqeiq (lawgiver) and Ehl Gav Ish (Numbers 12:3). In another , Moses had ascended to the first heaven until the , even visited and alive, after he saw the in Mount Horeb. Jewish historians who lived at , such as , attributed to Moses the feat of having taught the ns , similar to legends of . explicitly identified Moses not only with Thoth/ , but also with the Greek figure (whom he called "the teacher of "), and ascribed to him the division of Egypt into 36 districts, each with its own liturgy. He named the princess who adopted Moses as Merris, wife of Pharaoh Chenephres. Jewish tradition considers Moses to be the greatest prophet who ever lived. Despite his importance, Judaism stresses that Moses was a human being, and is therefore not to be worshipped. Only God is worthy of worship in Judaism. To , Moses is called Moshe Rabbenu, `Eved HaShem, Avi haNeviim zya"a: "Our Leader Moshe, Servant of God, Father of all the Prophets (may his merit shield us, amen)". In the orthodox view, Moses received not only the Torah, but also the revealed (written and oral) and the hidden (the `hokhmat nistar teachings, which gave Judaism the of the , the Torah of the and all that is discussed in the Heavenly Yeshiva between the and his masters). Arising in part from his age of death (120 according to Deut. 34:7) and that "his eye had not dimmed, and his vigor had not diminished," the phrase " " has become a common blessing among Jews, especially since 120 is elsewhere stated as the maximum age for 's descendants (one interpretation of ). Christianity }} Moses is mentioned more often in the than any other figure. For , Moses is often a symbol of , as reinforced and in the teachings of . New Testament writers often compared Jesus' words and deeds with Moses' to explain Jesus' mission. In 7:39–43, 51–53, for example, the rejection of Moses by the Jews who worshipped the is likened to the rejection of Jesus by the Jews that continued in traditional Judaism. Moses also figures in several of Jesus' messages. When he met the at night in the third chapter of the , he compared Moses' lifting up of the in the wilderness, which any Israelite could look at and be healed, to his own lifting up (by his death and ) for the people to look at and be healed. In the sixth chapter, Jesus responded to the people's claim that Moses provided them in the wilderness by saying that it was not Moses, but God, who provided. Calling himself the " ", Jesus stated that He was provided to feed God's people. Moses, along with , is presented as meeting with Jesus in all three of the in , , and , respectively. Jesus refers to the scribes and the Pharisees of the Temple as "seated in the chair of Moses" ( , epi tēs Mōuseōs kathedras) His relevance to modern Christianity has not diminished. Moses is considered to be a by several churches; and is commemorated as a prophet in the respective of the , the , and the churches on September 4. In for September 4, Moses is commemorated as the "Holy Prophet and God-seer Moses, on Mount Nebo". , September 4 was the day that Moses saw the .|group="Note"}} The Orthodox Church also commemorates him on the , two Sundays before the . The commemorates him as one of the Holy Forefathers in their on July 30. Mormonism Members of (colloquially called ) generally view Moses in the same way that other Christians do. However, in addition to accepting the biblical account of Moses, Mormons include as part of their scriptural canon. This book is believed to be the translated writings of Moses, and is included in the . Latter-day Saints are also unique in believing that Moses was taken to heaven without having tasted death ( ). In addition, and stated that on April 3, 1836, Moses appeared to them in the (located in ) in a glorified, immortal, physical form and bestowed upon them the "keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the from the land of the north." Islam Moses is mentioned more in the than any other individual and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other . In general, Moses is described in ways which parallel the Islamic prophet . Like , Moses is defined in the Quran as both prophet (nabi) and messenger ( ), the latter term indicating that he was one of those prophets who brought a scripture and law to his people. describes an account in the Quran of meetings in heaven between Moses and Muhammad, which Huston states were "one of the crucial events in Muhammad's life," and resulted in Muslims observing . Moses is mentioned 502 times in the Quran; passages mentioning Moses include .49–61, .103–60, .75–93, .101–04, .9–97, .10–66, .7–14, .3–46, .23–30, .46–55, .17–31, and .15–25. and many others. Most of the key events in Moses' life which are narrated in the Bible are to be found dispersed through the different s of the Quran, with a story about meeting which is not found in the Bible. In the Moses story related by the Quran, Jochebed is commanded by God to place Moses in an ark and cast him on the waters of the Nile, thus abandoning him completely to God's protection. The Pharaoh's wife , not his daughter, found Moses floating in the waters of the Nile. She convinced the Pharaoh to keep him as their son because they were not blessed with any children. The Quran's account has emphasized Moses' mission to invite the Pharaoh to accept God's divine message as well as give salvation to the Israelites. According to the Quran, Moses encourages the Israelites to enter Canaan, but they are unwilling to fight the Canaanites, fearing certain defeat. Moses responds by pleading to Allah that he and his brother Aaron be separated from the rebellious Israelites. After which the Israelites are made to wander for 40 years. According to some Islamic tradition, Moses is believed to be buried at , . Baha'i Faith Moses is one of the most important of God's messengers in the being designated a . An epithet of Moses in Baha'i scriptures is the One Who Conversed with God. According to the Baha'i Faith, , the founder of the faith, is the one who spoke to Moses from the . , has highlighted the fact that Moses, like , had none of the makings of a , but through God's assistance he was able to achieve many great things. He is described as having been "for a long time a shepherd in the wilderness," of having had a , and of being "much hated and detested" by the Pharaoh and the ancient Egyptians of his time. He is said to have been raised in an oppressive household, and to have been known, in Egypt, as a man who had committed murder – though he had done so in order to prevent an act of cruelty. Nevertheless, like Abraham, through the assistance of God, he achieved great things and gained renown even beyond the . Chief among these achievements was the freeing of his people, the Hebrews, from bondage in Egypt and leading "them to the Holy Land." He is viewed as the one who bestowed on Israel 'the religious and the civil law' which gave them "honour among all nations," and which spread their fame to different parts of the world. Furthermore, through the law, Moses is believed to have led the Hebrews 'to the highest possible degree of at that period.’ Abdul’l-Baha asserts that the ancient Greek philosophers regarded "the illustrious men of Israel as models of perfection." Chief among these philosophers, he says, was who "visited Syria, and took from the children of Israel the teachings of the Unity of God and of the immortality of the soul." Moses is further described as paving the way for and his ultimate revelation, and as a teacher of truth, whose teachings were in line with the customs of his time. Rastafarianism (Mozes en zijn Ethiopische vrouw Sippora). , c. 1650}} There is a current among the followers of who considers that Moses went up until arriving at as "Land of provision". And that, after founding a monotheistic community there, he continued by boat his journey to the land of ; , setting sail from . After that, he would continue his journey through India to the north and then west towards the . But dying before reaching its destination and creating with it a route that would later be called " ". These are based on the customs, legends and local traditions of both Ethiopians and . Legacy in politics and law In a metaphorical sense in the Christian tradition, a "Moses" has been referred to as the leader who delivers the people from a terrible situation. Among the known to have used the symbolism of Moses were , , , , and , who referred to his supporters as "the Moses generation." In subsequent years, theologians linked the Ten Commandments with the formation of early . Scottish theologian described them as "the universal foundation of all things… the law without which hood is impossible. …Our society is founded upon it. addressed the in 2015 stating that all people need to "keep alive their sense of unity by means of just legislation... and the figure of Moses leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being. American history Pilgrims , , and , at prayer during their voyage to America. Painting by .}} References to Moses were used by the , who relied on the story of Moses to give meaning and hope to the lives of seeking and in America. was the first governor of and first signer of the , which he wrote in 1620 during the ship '' 's three-month voyage. He inspired the Pilgrims with a "sense of earthly grandeur and divine purpose," notes historian , and was called the "Moses of the Pilgrims." Early American writer noted the similarity of the founding of America by the Pilgrims to that of by Moses: Following Carver's death the following year, was made governor. He feared that the remaining Pilgrims would not survive the hardships of the new land, with half their people having already died within months of arriving. Bradford evoked the symbol of Moses to the weakened and desperate Pilgrims to help calm them and give them hope: "Violence will break all. Where is the meek and humble spirit of Moses?" explains the attitude of the Pilgrims: "We considered ourselves the 'New Israel,' particularly we in America. And for that reason we knew who we were, what we believed in and valued, and what our ' ' was." Founding Fathers of the United States On July 4, 1776, immediately after the was officially passed, the asked , , and to design a seal that would clearly represent a symbol for the new United States. They chose the symbol of Moses leading the Israelites to freedom. The inscribed the words of Moses on the : "Proclaim Liberty thro' all the Land to all the Inhabitants thereof." ( 25) After the death of in 1799, two thirds of his eulogies referred to him as "America's Moses," with one orator saying that "Washington has been the same to us as Moses was to the Children of Israel." , in 1788, saw the difficulties that some of the newly independent were having in forming a government, and proposed that until a new code of laws could be agreed to, they should be governed by "the laws of Moses," as contained in the Old Testament. He justified his proposal by explaining that the laws had worked in biblical times: "The … having rescued them from bondage by many miracles, performed by his servant Moses, he personally delivered to that chosen servant, in the presence of the whole nation, a constitution and code of laws for their observance. , 2nd , stated why he relied on the laws of Moses over for establishing the : "As much as I love, esteem, and admire the Greeks, I believe the Hebrews have done more to enlighten and civilize the world. Moses did more than all their legislators and philosophers. Swedish historian credited Moses as the "first to proclaim the ." Slavery and civil rights Historian Gladys L. Knight describes how leaders who emerged during and after the period in which was legal often personified the Moses symbol. "The symbol of Moses was empowering in that it served to amplify a need for freedom." Therefore, when was after the passage of the , said they had lost "their Moses". Lincoln biographer writes, "The millions whom Abraham Lincoln delivered from slavery will ever liken him to Moses, the deliverer of Israel." Similarly, , who rescued approximately seventy enslaved family and friends, was also described as the "Moses" of her people. In the 1960s, a leading figure in the was , who was called "a modern Moses," and often referred to Moses in his speeches: "The struggle of Moses, the struggle of his devoted followers as they sought to get out of Egypt. This is something of the story of every people struggling for freedom." Cultural portrayals and references instituted by the pharaoh (shown above), a notion now discredited by modern scholars.}} Literature * , in his last book, in 1939, postulated that Moses was an Egyptian nobleman who adhered to the of . Following a theory proposed by a contemporary , Freud believed that Moses was murdered in the wilderness, producing a collective sense of that has been at the heart of Judaism ever since. "Judaism had been a religion of the father, Christianity became a religion of the son", he wrote. The possible Egyptian origin of Moses and of his message has received significant scholarly attention. Opponents of this view observe that the religion of the Torah seems different from in everything except the central feature of devotion to a single god, although this has been countered by a variety of arguments, e.g. pointing out the similarities between the and . Freud's interpretation of the historical Moses is not well accepted among s, and is considered by many. * 's (1944) is a retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt, with Moses as its main character. Art – in Basilica San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome}} :Michelangelo's statue 's in the Church of , , is one of the most familiar masterpieces in the world. The horns the sculptor included on Moses' head are the result of a mistranslation of the Hebrew Bible into the Latin with which Michelangelo was familiar. The Hebrew word taken from Exodus means either a "horn" or an "irradiation." Experts at the show that the term was used when Moses "returned to his people after seeing as much of the Glory of the Lord as human eye could stand," and his face "reflected radiance." In early , moreover, Moses is often "shown with rays coming out of his head." Another author explains, "When translated the Old Testament into , he thought no one but should glow with rays of light – so he advanced the secondary translation. However, writer J. Stephen Lang points out that Jerome's version actually described Moses as "giving off hornlike rays," and he "rather clumsily translated it to mean 'having horns.'" It has also been noted that he had Moses seated on a , yet Moses was never given the title of a nor ever sat on such thrones. :Depiction on U.S. government buildings .}} Moses is depicted in several U.S. government buildings because of his legacy as a lawgiver. In the stands a large statue of Moses alongside a statue of the . Moses is one of the 23 lawgivers depicted in s in the of the in the . The plaque's overview states: "Moses (c. 1350–1250 B.C.) Hebrew prophet and lawgiver; transformed a wandering people into a nation; received the Ten Commandments." The other twenty-two figures have their profiles turned to Moses, which is the only forward-facing bas-relief. Moses appears eight times in carvings that ring the ceiling. His face is presented along with other ancient figures such as , the Greek god and the Roman goddess of wisdom, . The Supreme Court Building's east pediment depicts Moses holding two tablets. Tablets representing the Ten Commandments can be found carved in the oak courtroom doors, on the support frame of the courtroom's bronze gates and in the library woodwork. A controversial image is one that sits directly above the ' head. In the center of the 40-foot-long Spanish marble carving is a tablet displaying I through X, with some numbers partially hidden. Film and television * Moses was portrayed by in 's 1923 . Moses appeared as the central character in the 1956 DeMille movie, also called , in which he was portrayed by . A was produced in 2006. * played Moses in the 1975 television . * In the 1981 , Moses was portrayed by . * Sir was the narrator of the 2007 film, . * Moses appeared as the central character in the 1998 ' , . He was voiced by . * In the 2009 , Moses was portrayed by . * In the 2013 television miniseries , Moses was portrayed by actor . * portrayed Moses in 's 2014 film which portrayed Moses and as being raised by as cousins. * portrayed Moses in Alexandre Avancini and Vivian De Oliveira 2015–2016 Brazilian miniseries (original title: ). Criticism of Moses c.1900}} Thomas Paine and Numbers 31:13–18 In the late eighteenth century, the deist commented at length on Moses' Laws in (1794, 1795, and 1807). Paine considered Moses to be a "detestable ", and cited as an example of his "unexampled atrocities". In the passage, the Jewish army had returned from , and Moses has gone down to meet it: the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp; and Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle; and Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of , to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of , and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known a man by lying with him; but all the women-children, that , keep alive for yourselves.}} The prominent atheist also made reference to these verses in his 2006 book, , concluding that Moses was "not a great for modern moralists". Rabbi Joel Grossman argued that the story is a "powerful of and ", and that Moses' execution of the women was a symbolic condemnation of those who seek to turn sex and desire to evil purposes. Alan Levin, an educational specialist with the movement, has similarly suggested that the story should be taken as a , to "warn successive generations of Jews to watch their own idolatrous behavior". However, some Jewish sources defend Moses' role. The emphasizes that this war was not fought at Moses' behest, but was commanded by God as an act of revenge against the Midianite women, who, according to the Biblical account, had seduced the Israelites and led them to sin. In , son of defend their innocent action in leaving the women remain alive because Moses instructed them to take revenge "only to the Midianites," without mentioning "Midianite women." As God had also commanded them to be a holy nation, the "polluted" or unvirgin women should not be preferred among sons of Israel, therefore the "pure" or virgin women are more sacred for themselves. Notes References Category:Religion